Other Voices

Beneficiaries of Trade: You and Me

America isn't the loser when imports exceed exports, despite popular perceptions to the contrary.

Whenever the U.S. Commerce Department reports rising imports and an expanding trade deficit, the economic priesthood pronounces it bad news for the economy. "Rising trade deficit could drag down economy," is a typical newspaper headline. As the Associated Press summarized conventional thinking a few months ago, "Growth slows when imports outpace exports, because more jobs go to foreign workers."